Conventional digital images and videos are captured using single-channel (e.g., grayscale) sensors or using three-channel (e.g., red, green, blue) sensors. “Hyperspectral” (or “multispectral”) digital images and videos are captured using spectrometers or other devices that provide more than three channels of information, each corresponding to a respective range (“passband”) of wavelengths, or that provide information over a broad spectral passband such as the visible spectrum (e.g., 400-700 nm). Hyperspectral images are not restricted to the visible spectrum, but can also include passbands in, e.g., the infrared (>700 nm) or ultraviolet (<400 nm) ranges.
In some existing hyperspectral imaging systems, a spectrometer is used to measure the spectrum of light corresponding to each imaging pixel, e.g., successively in a raster pattern. In some existing hyperspectral imaging systems, successive exposures are taken of a scene, one exposure for each passband.